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THE BIG MOVIE of the moment is The Hunger Games, in which a post-apocalyptic, empathically-challenged society derives guilt-free pleasure from watching young people destroy one another.
Coincidentally, the big TV series of the moment is Tallafornia, from which an empathetically-challenged society derives guilt-free pleasure by watching young people destroy one another.
The main difference is that the cast of The Hunger Games are much less likely to receive death threats.
Tallafornia is one of those augmented-reality shows that have been burrowing through the arse of the barrel ever since MTV first aired The Real World in 1992. Its title, bravely defined by TV3, means “the spread and influence of West Dublin culture… the people, the places, the hairspray, the buff bodies and the golden orange skintone”. Of course, because this is no more a real thing than the Ideas Fairy that whispers nightly in the ears of TV executives, not all of this first season’s cast were from West Dublin.
Four men and three women were plucked from the desperate masses and replanted in a Tallaght semi, cultivated on Grey Goose and a terrifying amount of eggs, and kept at a near tropical temperature so as to render clothes completely unfeasible. The lucky seven range from nineteen-year-old student Nikita to thirty-year-old stripper Jay, so one could argue they’re all old enough to know what they’re getting themselves into. In fact, one might be rather more worried about the mindset of the thirty-year-old inmate than of the nineteen-year-old. Isn’t he a bit old for such carry-on?
Such carry-on that had even David Norris reaching for the smelling salts. The senator described the show as “really seriously drink-sodden” with its cast “put in an atmosphere of continual drinking [and] encouraged to behave licentiously.” To which a TV3 spokesman sighed that “Tallafornia is exactly what is says on the tin. It’s just about fun and it’s an entertainment programme”. One of the show’s stars, the irrepressibly gormless Cormac Branagan, sneered “[Norris] would want to get a dose of reality. This is everyday life.”
Except it’s not. Nothing about Tallafornia, from the drinking, to the lapdances, to the wilful overspending on cheap eggs, related to everyday life. If it did, we wouldn’t have watched the bloody thing.
We watched Tallafornia because we wanted to laugh at the idiots
We didn’t watch Tallafornia because we’re bent double obsessing about socio-sexual mores in West Dublin. We watched Tallafornia because we wanted to laugh at the idiots. Like a scheduled audience at the chimpanzee enclosure, we crowded around the television on Friday nights to watch the cast fling poo at one another.
The biggest problem with Tallafornia’s success isn’t that we now have Cormac ‘Zap’ Branagan to deal with. We can laugh and poke fun all we like, but the fact remains that Norris has more than an incidental point. Broadcasting bad behaviour and rewarding its perpetrators with nationwide attention eventually normalises it, and some of the bad behaviour on Tallafornia was very bad indeed. And in another segue from reality, the truly bad behaviour wasn’t challenged.
None of the cast members came out of the experience smelling of roses, but the women, in particular, got a raw deal. Wild behaviour was encouraged from Tallafornia’s female cast – the girls were provided with all of the intimate close-ups, stripper poles and lingerie-clad whipped cream fights they could handle – yet any time one of the girls behaved in line with these super-sexed expectations, she was called a slut and sent to bed crying.
Kelly, whose crime was to fall for Dave despite having a boyfriend, was shunned, ridiculed and demeaned by each of her four male housemates. Nikita was bedded and unceremoniously ditched – repeatedly! – by Phil, who really needs to trademark The Creepiest Man Alive because no one has the right to the title that he does.
The fact that the women, who constantly referred to each other as “sisters”, wouldn’t stick up for one another in the face of such hateful harrying was depressing. Bullied incessantly, even if she couldn’t see it, Nikita wasted no time turning on Kelly as soon as the lads’ sneering spotlight swerved over to her friend.
The fantasy pop-culture woman who’s superficially classy, yet always sexually available, just doesn’t translate well into real life, because the kind of young man who craves her isn’t ready for her. The Tallafornia girls were groomed as ever-ready glamour models – all three spent more time in knickers and platforms than in anything else – but came a cropper under the insecurities of the men they gave their attention to. Creepy Phil lied to Nikita so she’d have sex with him and then mocked her for being stupid enough to fall for it. Angry Dave told Kelly she was dead to him after Phil imagined that she’d tried to kiss him.
The men often retreated into bromantic cuddles and back-slaps, convinced that they were born only to suffer the machinations of bikini models, oblivious to how they might have been architects of their own fallen angels. Even when a nameless woman fell inexplicably but briefly for Cormac’s meathead charms, Phil lost the run of himself and bubbled over into a hot mess of jealousy that was far more frightening than it was amusing.
The never-ending slut-shaming was rather more unpalatable
Unpleasant stuff, for light entertainment. But unpleasantness can be just as escapist as sunshine and lollipops, so Tallafornia remained compulsive viewing. I could stomach the ludicrous preening of its stars, the silly clubwear, the proclamations of what a great party everyone’s having even when it’s obvious that the cast are languishing in a VIP area off an empty dancefloor.
The never-ending slut-shaming was rather more unpalatable. And in the same way Phil, Dave, Cormac and (to an admittedly lesser extent) Jay weren’t challenged on that, neither was TV3. Tallafornia was a commercial triumph.
With the success of America’s Jersey Shore, it’s unlikely that any of Tallafornia’s cast were unaware of the repercussions of appearing on a show designed to exhibit their most embarrassing defects; even the hapless Nikita, a girl so wet behind the ears she can’t spell coconut, can’t have failed to notice that she was cast as Tallafornia’s version of Jersey Shore’s über-buffoon Snooki. The most likely explanation is that the cast knew the risks, and they chose to hurtle headfirst into them.
Notoriety doesn’t always last forever, and the Shore’s Snooki has more than feathered her nest by allowing herself be paraded as the first world’s lowest lifeform. “It’s an experience”, said Tallafornia’s Kelly, on more than twelve occasions. And it certainly was. Doubtless she’s not bothered about the fallout, so why should Mr Norris be?
For good reason, as it turns out. If the Tallafornia cast were exploited, they were exploited for our amusement. The chances are that viewers who believe Tallafornia is exploitation television will not blame themselves for their part in this glorious mess. TV3 saw a gap in the market and they filled it, and had no shortage of participants, locales, or ridiculous definitions made up on the hoof to allow them to do so. Responding to Senator Norris’ criticism, a TV3 spokesman said “It is what it is. It’s a fun programme”.
And it is. Fun for us. Whether we’re giggling along or making gagging gestures from behind the couch, a glut of us tuned in, and made Tallafornia a very big hit.
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In fairness, it needs a restructure. Its a pity it doesn’t ask or survey its licence payers what it needs to do however.
@iohanx: We are here to serve them not the other way around, its ingrained in all these state run companies/departments, we are here to pay their massively over the top pay and pensions bill…..just keep loading the tax on!
@iohanx: There’s a proper poll for you Journal…Should RTE get rid of RTE Gold ???
@The digenous: yes
If Will Leahy was still on 2fm they would have more listeners. Was very good at the show he did.
@The digenous: yes …it’s listeners are dying off .Also streaming has made it largely irrelevant except for the bewildered .
@The digenous: I don’t understand how they can’t measure listenership of it and the other DAB stations. Similar stations in the UK have had listenership figures monitored for years.
@Kevin Lydon: “Get off my Train”Lydo.!!
They could save a lot of money by withdrawing from the Eurovision for a few years.
@JAC: this year they spent €331,000 on it. It costs €84,000 to even enter before anything else
@JAC: Christ I hope we don’t win it anytime shortly or they will have to cut RTE Radio 1, 2FM, The All Ireland’s and Fair City (last one I can live with
@JAC: get rid of finucane to pay for it
Get rid of the overpaid presenters, whose abilities in no way reflects their wages.
Seeing Mike Murphy on the tribute show, said it all class
@William Bryan: exactly, too many very expensive dinosaurs. Got to be lots of young actual talent that would do a far better job for a fraction of the salary.
The news broadcasters at RTE are no longer relevant or useful to the Irish people. They have been supporting the views of an increasingly out of touch liberal elite of Dublin 4, and actively censoring the opinions of those that don’t share their ideologies.
Don’t bang the door after you!
@Peter Hughes: bit early in the morning to be so triggered there snowflake.
@Mary’s Abbey: I think you are a bit out of touch there. For example in the last Referendum the Citizens group, the Dail commitee and finally the electorate all went further than anything your ‘liberal elite’ were suggesting. There has always been a conservative rump complaining about progress right back to giving women the vote, sounds like it’s alive and well and still moaning.
@Peter Hughes: agree. They sound like someone who starts conversations with “we the people” lol
@Squiddley Diddley: The last two referendums were on subjects being advocated for by taxpayer-funded far left-liberal elite activists.
Lets now have one asking do you want to control immigration are continue with uncontrolled mass immigration.
@Pickles: Ok Boomer.
@Mary’s Abbey: “far-left liberal” is an oxymoron. Liberal is a right-wing ideology everywhere except the US.
@Mary’s Abbey: where’s the “uncontrolled mass immigration” happening? Immigration into Ireland is tightly controlled. You’d swear we were overrun with immigrants here judging by some commenters when we clearly aren’t. Alex Jones eat your heart out
@Mick Murphy: I’ve forgotten the air to the old tune “Oh the fairy tales of Ireland they are told by young and old.”
@Mary’s Abbey: Wow, abortion and being gay are “far-left elite activities”!! Who knew!?!
@Niamh Kenneally: A man once said to me he was going to emigrate.
I asked him why, he said “100 years ago people were stoned to death for being gay, forty years ago you could be sent to prison for being gay. Now the is no punishment at all for being gay. So I said sure that’s a good thing would that make you want to emigrate.
“He said. I want to go before it becomes compulsary.”
@Chris Judge: “Liberal is a right-wing ideology everywhere except the US.”
A classical Liberal believes in the maxim ‘Live and Let Live’. It has always been considered a left wing position.
However, progressive Liberals have pushed their ideology so far to the left and into authoritarianism that it’s understandable where the confusion comes from.
@Mary’s Abbey: Totally agree. Even the newsreaders have to get their own leftie view in and are so unprofessional. One can’t trust or believe the news and any balance or fairness is gone. There is also an obvious anti-Christian/Catholic bias, which whether RTE likes it or not, offends a large number of the population, which includes advertisers. They do not have their finger on the pulse of Ireland and are not listening to those they are supposed to be serving. Such a pity because with the right balance, leadership, common sense and respect for all the people, it could be a great asset to people’s lives and to this country.
That’s a pity,personally I think gold is the only good thing about RTÉ but that’s just my taste
@Pete mc pete: Yeah they could let the commercial stations serve the 2FM market and put RTE Gold on the air instead of it. Don’t see any downside there.
@Pete mc pete: best station ever Pete.they play music people want to hear…I listen to it every day.an incredible decision to shut it down.
@The digenous: maybe I’m old but timewarp is a decent station too if you have internet radio
@Pete mc pete: Thanks mate.I’ll check it out. It’s not that you’re old my friend.Gold justs plays a great variety of classics.Im really sad to see it go;-(
It’s a business first and eventually they are behaving like one. The only area that I think should get ring fenced money in rte is investigative journalism as we can all remember lots of issues raised by primetime and others which have done a service to the country
Will really really miss RTÉ Gold. Will and others are absolutely excellent
@Brian Hunt: The music the lads,Will,Al,Larry and Rick played was just brilliant. Vital part of my mornings work was RTE Gold.Hopefully it can be saved.Seriously RTE!! Listen to the general public.
1. Make rte an encrypted chan. Subscription reqd.
2. Why are tubs ..etc contracted employees and not paye?
Nice dodge if u can get away with it.
@Pete Lee: because then a huge number of people wouldn’t subscribe, viewership would go down and stories of vital national interest wouldn’t necessarily get air time.
A state funded broadcaster is vital for democracy.
@Shazam37: ok…how about rte 1 tv radio free to air the rest subscription and if they dont get the numbers shut them down. I agree to PBS brief of rte but there are a lot of non essential bolt ons
@Shazam37: vital for government propaganda more like it…..
@Gus Sheridan: that may or may not be. I couldn’t say. But even if true the fact they don’t do the job well or properly is not a valid argument against the job being done in the first place.
Change? Sure. Reform? Absolutely. Scrapping the National Broadcaster? Absolutely not
@Pete Lee: All employees are contracted. The likes of Tubridy, Marian Finucane et al are self employed.
@Alan Dillon: As a paye I don’t understand how Revenue allow this.. I can’t go contract…They do not work for anyone else..
@Pete Lee: if RTE offered a reasonable, ad-free subscription I would certainly subscribe, but they have the licence and the advertising. I rarely watch it because the player is a pain but when I do online I enjoy some of the dramas produced by RTE,hence I would be happy to subscribe. Their news programmes are very slanted in favour of the status quo. I really miss Vincent Brown!
@Peter lee: yes you can you just need to prove to your employer it’s worth their while. it also means that they can cancel you’re contract within the contract terms at any time. now when it comes to rte stars there not salaries because it means rte can let them go (which never seems to happen) and it’s a legitimate tax dodge. plenty of it contractors doing the same thing.
@Shazam37: “A state funded broadcaster is vital for democracy.”
I would agree with you if RTE was impartial but it isn’t, it is far too often a mouth piece for the establishment.
There is still a place for RTE in Irish society but the fact that they are dependent on taxpayers money means they can be controlled to some extent by government.
Gold is the best station RTE have. Why get rid of something that is good when you could cut in other areas .
@Orla Cosgrave: because they don’t know if anyone is listening. It’s in the article in black and white. Leahy says it himself – the tech has never really caught on.
@Shazam37: you’re posting intelligently on the Journal. That’s against the rules.
@Orla Cosgrave: I got a dab function on my roberts radio , there is nothing on it.
@Orla Cosgrave: Their sporting and childrens productions were great as well but were the first to be cut.
They appear to run their business on the basis of protecting golden members first and foremost regardless of performance rather than what the viewers / listeners care about.
@Shazam37: RTE Gold and all their digital channels are available on every TV in the country, not just DAB.
@Shazam37: RTE Gold, like all their radio channels, is available on every digital TV in the country. DAB was never rolled out fully so car DAB radios never made much sense.
Continue non payment of the license fee folks. Victory is on the horizon. Bye bye Rte
Sack there accounts .. they earn enough in advertising revenue.. its the over paid presenter’s that need a 50% cut
Is there a state run, public company in this country actually run correctly or succesfully?
@Brian Dunne: Where do you think this is, Germany?!
I honestly thought the DAB stations were just music on constant repeat and in all honesty why aren’t they just that , most money being spent on presenters and producers that are not really needed just put music on a loop and have a schedule to say this block of 2 hours will be x and this block of 2 hours will be y
Joke of a company
@colm connolly: me too
I live in Spain and RTE GOLD is the only radio station I listen to it’s brilliant
There are some very good people in rte unfortunately the organisation has become defined by the overpaid wafflers at the top
Stop buying wardrobes of clothing for the presenters. They can well afford to buy their own clothes like the rest of us. That would easy pay for RTÉ Gold which is brill.
Get rid of the overpaid presenters and leave rte gold alone
It seems that every week I see a new face on the RTE News… and here’s our whatever correspondent… I would love to know how many people work on the RTE News alone, never mind the rest of the Station and Administration.
As I understand it RTE gets the licence fee and all the advertising revenue … commercial stations get advertising .. end of story. Look at the BBC .. only licence fee.. and their incredible output .. admittedly a bigger country and a big population , but on a scale of output proportionally we couldn’t match the quality of theirs. Most of the drama etc. from RTE has a certain cheapness about it that I personally accepted … until it dawned on me that they are spending far too much on Salaries… also much of the output is produced FOR RTE. Who profits there ?
Licience evaders causing problem my eye more like the huge wages bill for likes of tubbs, darcy, duffy,etc . Its easy to point finger @ 12% of licience evaders when clearly rte never restructured properly & 10 years of mismanagement from fine gael is another factor. The amount of money they could save on excessive wage bills would help .
Wonder how much it cost them to broadcast live the dublin county football semifinal and final?
@Michael: so? That’s public service TV , exactly what they need to do more of instead of english soccer
@Michael: here’s me thinking it was in tg4
@Tony Stack: What English soccer Tony?
Keep RTE News and and use it for documentaries etc , get rid of everything else including the overpaid presenters who have become a major turn off and financial headache for the station.
Fair city
Eurovision
Tubs ,Darcy Joe, Marion.. self employed private contactors avoiding tax, crazy silly money,
Plenty of new talent would love chance to prove themselves, for fraction of above.
Don’t have rte etc, but can view on player if need.
Horrible news for workforce at anytime, but this close to Christmas and way they heard
@Kerrie Roche: “self employed private contactors avoiding tax”. Can you send on the link to that fact please. I’d love to read it.
@Fr. Fintan Stack: just goggle it , can’t seem to send link, they all have set up as companies, so only have to pay corporate tax.
Nooooooo!!!! I love RTÉ Gold it’s a nice distraction from the head wreck that is Brexit! What a shame!
@Buster Cat: or worse,,,,,Jennifer Zamparelli
RTÉ should scrap TG4 merge the services from TG4 to RTÉ 2 have the TG4 frequency as a sports channel
Close lyric fm RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Long wave radio
Cut presenters wages further ( if they don’t like it let them enjoy the digital desert )
Agreed cease aertel and sell off RTÉ guide and move RTÉ orchestra to concert hall
@In my opinion: you do know tg4 is nothing to do with rte since 2007
@colm connolly: and produces great content
It’s disgraceful that Will Leahy had to broadcast a show on RTE Gold this morning only armed with the info he read in the press. He broadcast this morning as the ultimate professional, despite the distinct lack of respect shown by his employer.
Scrap lyric and bring Gold fm and Pulse fm to fm radio…
@Johnny Conway: No way. I like Lyric FM. And isnt Gold just constant music no DJs? surely that cant cost much?
If RTÉ didn’t receive funding from the from the TV licence fee, would it be viable at all? How does their competitor survive? BAI part funding for “as Gaeilge” programs for them won’t cut it.
I can only imagine they (RTÉ) themselves have gone down the path of cost over runs, and becoming non financially viable. Expecting shows from independent producers to prop them up via selling licences to channels outside of Ireland is not going to solve finances and goes against serving the Irish public in a sence. Then there’s revenue from advertising, they repeatedly fail to mention this in their woes! Expecting the public to pay more under a newly named tax because of their bad management is simply not good enough. They actually have a lot to answer for too the public who pay them.
Truth is they are not with the times, younger audiences don’t watch or listen to RTÉ. The programming is mostly aimed at a mature audience, apart from under 5s, I haven’t spoken to many under 5s to see if they watch RTÉ Jr. mine didn’t when they were small, they watched Nick Jr, Catroon Network, foreign channels. Teenagers, including my own, yes I have asked, they don’t watch it. They use social media for everything. RTÉ is simply not in tune with modern times. Fair City, Nationwide, Reeling in the Years, the Late Late Show(Guests selling their latest books, albums or movies, sponsored by Renault, selling cars), moan at Joe, Ray D’Arcy, Ryan Tubridy, Drive tíme, are all aimed at mature audiences, are all the same thing over and over for decades and in some cases and are literally dinosaurs in a world of IoT. There’s not much new going on and it’s the same presenters am the time. Opportunity for new ones and new independent producers are slim to none. I am one.
And as we have seen with companies who don’t change with the times, they die.
I pay my TV licence only because I’m threatened by legal action, fines etc.. I occasionally watch RTÉ 6One news, but with free to air channels that have CNN, BBC, France24, and 900+ other free channels and then streaming like Netflix, it is very occasionally, that I watch RTÉ.
If RTÉ was gone in the morning personally, I wouldn’t miss it, at all.
I wish them the best of luck but it shouldn’t be at my expense, your expense, they don’t financially support my business, your business. And that’s the fact right there, it’s a business, not a public service anymore. If they can’t survive on their own, we’ll what does that tell ya?
Salaries crazy with the top earners.
Gold a much loved station by those that are aware of it.
Make it accessible to all.
How many are aware or listen via dab
Dont pay the licence fee and never will as long as Darcy is getting paid more per year than id earn in 10. Shut it down.
Well hopefully they dont get rid of Lyric FM i actually like that station
Why cut gold and keep lyric fm, who the hell listens to that Shyte anyway.
@Chris Folliard: RTE Gold is the best music station in Ireland…apart from the permenant staff there and the digital technology on DAB, it costs little to run. I’ll miss listening to it on Saorview on the TV…been listening since the start in May 2007. Great weekend presenters. Unfortunately, the music played on GOLD will never be heard on RTE again. RTE should merge Lyric FM and RTE Gold.
@Chris Folliard: I do. Classical music is associated with a higher intelligence. I’ll understand if you don’t tune in.
@cybersecsteve: that is very much debatable. It’s like saying my preference in colour also associates to my level of intelligence.
@cybersecsteve: apparently so is arrogance.
@Graham Masters: no it doesn’t. Choice of colour is personal preference.
@Dave O’Keeffe: I agree Dave. Calling something “shyte” is the height of ignorance.
@Chris Folliard:
I listen to lyric
@Chris Folliard: culture my good man. Only joking..Seriously lyric F.M. is a fantastic station, R.T.E. gold certainly got me through the night shift for the last few years. Spotify and other music streaming blew RTE gold out of the water. At an age where outside the news and John Creedon R.T.E. does not appeal to me anymore. As for current affairs, with the rear exception just a mouthpiece for government policy.
How much did ‘Marty’s big adventure’ cost?
I only watch 6 one. It’s literally 4 news stories repeated over and over again usually followed by the mouldy Reeling in the years that seems like a bad Youtube video.
2FM should be sold
Well people if you want RTÉ gold to be saved email RTÉ and complain we are the share holders of this company. They should start by cutting the dead wood from the top not be shutting the stations people listen to. How many executives on big salary’s don’t need to be there. It’s the same in all semi state company’s they cut the services rather than the real money suckers. Bring in an outside accounting company and let them sort the mess.
@Colm Sheehan: The state should stop funding it and then you will see a massive cull and shake up all those overpaid wasters would jump ship immediately, look at Marian Finuacane she is on over 300k a year for 4 hours work a week she must be one of the highest paid people in Europe based on the hours that she actually works,she has a team of researchers and producers who do all the donkey work for her.
Sack Turburdy as he is a Gimp
doesnt even come up when I scan radio stations in the car. so who is will leahy
@ed w: Do you have DAB in your car? If you do then RTE Gold should show up. Will Leahy was previously with 2FM for many years so is an experienced DJ. He’s also a solicitor.
@Fon_Ellard: I’m so happy for you, and censorship and a good pension
It really does need a huge makeover,
Look at RTE Radio 1 it’s the longest station it should be the nations leading station bouncing out the music,
Every time I turn to listen to this station it’s a load of talk about politics,
It’s diabolical,
As for blaming the job losses on In this statement last night, RTÉ said that licence fee evasion rates in Ireland are among the highest in Europe and is “costing jobs”.
The station says that between people who evade their TV licence fee and those who just watch RTÉ programming on the RTÉ player, “over €50 million is lost to public broadcasting every year”.
Well perhaps if they ran things more economically before they would not be in the present situation.
For once I think we should question ourselves as a nation that seems to condone TV license evaders at € 160.00 per YEAR and not moving up yet ooh and aah when people show off there Virgin Media and Sky channels at 90quid and upwards per month. We have something askew here.
no loss
have your say